'Your audience is expanding!' ...**bleep**?
Dear eBay.
Puerto Rico is a US territory. It is not international.
USPS will happily deliver to PR for little to no more than they already do.
Reverse this change, as it *WILL* harm sellers *AND* buyers.
18 comments
lesegouts
·2 years agoWhen I ship to PR for my regular business I have to fill out a customs form, so it's not like the 50 states.
robbie31415
·2 years agoThat should only be if you set PR as the country.
You can change the country from PR to USA and that should avoid any customs forms when shipping from the continental US.
robbie31415
·2 years agoEbay estimated 5 days as the latest. 🤣 
robbie31415
·2 years agoI just don't get how more options = bad.
Example. Ebay added Venmo as a payment option.
Does Venmo impact the other options? No.
Increased options is a good thing.
chevymontecarlo88
·2 years agoIt's just the way Ebay rolled out the update. Once everyone understands the benefit of the program they will be on board.
That is also about the time Ebay will change it again. 😂
The best part of this roll out for me was that i did get to learn a little more about Puerto Rico. Many provided history lessons on why its part of the US. 😀
wastingtime101
·2 years agoHow @bajrboy ? It's giving both buyers and sellers another option. It's not replacing your direct USPS shipping settings.
bajrboy
OP2 years agoIf PR is treated as international shipping -- which it is not -- then the buyer will have to pay *CONSIDERABLY* more for shipping than it actually costs.
Let's say you sell a PS2 game. It's about 4 ounces.
As a seller, you have to ship to the hub -- which is about $5 -- and the buyer has to pay to ship it from the hub to them, which tends to be around $10 *MORE*. Versus the seller sending directly to the buyer at the cost of... $5.
Buyers will be turned away from buying the item, knowing that it will cost an additional $10(ish) on top of what they'd already be paying, costing the seller that potential sale, and possibly more from that buyer in the future.
wastingtime101
·2 years agoYou're missing the point @bajrboy .
Buyer will see your option through USPS for $5
Buyer will see $$ option through eBay International Shipping (eIS) as a secondary option.
Obviously buyer will chose your $5 USPS option and not give it another thought.
Now look at heavier items where it may be more cost effective for the buyer to choose eIS. Now look at sellers that do not ship to PR because the UPS/FedEx services they offer are cost-prohibitive. Rather than those buyers having no option to purchase from those UPS/FedEx sellers, those buyers will now have the option to choose eIS.
Just because this change will not enhance your sales, that does not mean it's a bad change. Weird? Yes. Bad? No. It gives buyers and sellers more options and will enhance sales for others and open up more listings to buyers in PR. It's not replacing anything.
AK/HI are being added to eIS end of August, about a month after PR. Like I said - weird? Yeah. Bad? No.
reelworks
·2 years agoIn the past, all the items I sold to PR went direct to PR, not to the hub. The rates to PR were not much more than the rates to south FL.
On my personal account, I just bought a 2lb item from PR and not only did it arrive here in four days, the shipping label had a $8.63 price showing on it. I see lots of sellers with labels that show the rate, where as none we print at work show the rate paid.
If the sale had been in the opposite direction, I could not have shipped a 2lb box to PR for $8.63. Which is something I have a problem with and it happens all the time.
buyselljack2016
·2 years agoUSPS shipping rates would be the same in both directions for identical packages.
With "cubic" pricing ................... 2 lb online label costs can vary if the dimensions are different.
kensgiftshop
·2 years agoYes, USPS will deliver there, but a lot of sellers won't ship there because of all the problems.
bajrboy
OP2 years agoWhat problems?
They fall entirely under the USPS umbrella. It's treated the same as domestic shipping.
This is pretty much the same as treating Alaska and Hawaii as international because they're not in the 48 contiguous.
kensgiftshop
·2 years agoAnd a lot of sellers don't ship to Alaska or Hawaii either for the same reasons.
What problems?
Late deliveries.
No deliveries.
Damaged deliveries.
bajrboy
OP2 years agoI must be lucky there; I've never had issues shipping to Alaska and Hawaii.
And... I guess I misunderstood! I didn't know this was an *OPTION* for the buyer to choose; it seemed like eBay was pulling the choice *AWAY* and was, instead, making that *THE* way to ship to PR. That would make it tremendously less efficient and would take much longer.
I'm glad to know I was wrong and am likely losing my mind. I can accept that! 😄
kensgiftshop
·2 years agoAccording to my grandkids, they say I lost my mind a few years ago and sometimes I think they are right.
I've shipped to all 3 places a few times and the only problem I had was one order going to Hawaii, but it was my fault.
I shipped ground without even thinking and I think they put it on a row boat, it took forever to get there.
Right now, you can give the buyer the option of direct shipping or use the EIS.
Will Ebay change that some time in the future, don't know?
A lot of sellers like the EIS because of the extra protection it provides.
No more returns.
No more INR cases.
No more damage claims.
You get the item to the US hub and you're done with the transaction.
bajrboy
OP2 years agoI don't have any grandkids, so I'm self-diagnosed as losing my mind. ^-^
Shipping for me to Hawaii is great because I'm in California, and there aren't any hops between myself and the destination. Even Ground goes 1 to 3 days! 😄
I *HAVE* has issues with the EIS in the wayback, but I think they've changed from the manglers and butchers that had been doing it. I haven't had any issues with it recently.
Man, I remember when you could just send a thing internationally and it would be fine and reasonably-priced! But, that's why I don't offer international aside from the EIS thing now.
OH! Wanna hear a hilarious thing that FedEx did to me a couple years ago? I sold a sun shade for a 2023 WRX to someone in Northern California. It was, like, 2lbs, but it was a long package. Shipping ended up being around $14, 'kay? Well, this was before they started pulling the shipping out immediately, so when they pulled it, they charged me $405 because of the package volume! Measurements were right, dernit! The eBay rep went out of her way to rake FedEx over the coals for it, though. But still, it was funny.
yuzuha
·2 years agoI've shipped to AK, HI and PR many times and never had a single one of those problems.
monster-deals
·2 years agoOdd, since 1997 I have not had a single solitary package arrive on time to AK or HI.
Not one.